Week 6: Women and Power
1. Ask three people to each read one of the Bible passages on Mary Magdalene (pages 107-108 in #OTB) aloud.
Discuss: Who is Mary Magdalene? Why do people think she was a prostitute in Jesus’ time?
2. Watch this short scene from Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ. The “Mary Magdalene” character is also collapsed into the “woman taken in adultery” of John 8:1-11.
What do you learn about this portrayal of a woman as a “repentant sinner”?
3. Women’s humanity and spirituality
Discuss: How can women and men foster genuine equality by using the real story of Mary Magdalene? What does it mean that Jesus trained Mary Magdalene for a job (a disciple)?
4. For extra credit! On your own, watch Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon’s lecture at Chicago Theological Seminary on how women’s thought can get subjugated, and how we can get out of that!
